1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a contact freezing apparatus which freezes sea food and, more particularly, to a contact freezing apparatus which can adjust the height of loading or unloading freezing pans (of loading fishes and shellfishes) on or from each freezing plate.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A lateral contact freezer is used to immediately freeze fishes and shellfishes collected in a fishing boat. A conventional lateral contact freezer includes, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, freezing plates 1 of multiple racks (11 effective racks in FIGS. 1 and 2), a set of two hydraulic cylinders 2 installed at both sides of the freezing plates 1 for elevationally moving the freezing plates 1 upwardly or downwardly and a number of freezing pans 3 placed on the respective freezing plates 1, and the entire freezer is disposed in a freezing room 4. Freezing medium such as Freon is circulated through the freezing plates 1 in the freezing room to aid the freezing action of the fishes and shellfishes placed on the freezing pans 3. The freezing plates 1 are sequentially connected at both sides via connecting rods 5 in suspended state. The uppermost freezing plate is fixedly secured through liners 7 to a mounting member 6 which is bridged fixedly over between the ends 2a of the rods of the two hydraulic cylinders 2 at right and left sides. The freezing plate 1 is elevationally moved upwardly or downwardly by telescoping the rods 2 in the respective cylinders 2 synchronously. When the rods 2 are extended at full stroke from the cylinders, all the freezing plates 1 are suspended as shown in FIG. 2. The interval between the freezing plates 1 is maintained in size capable of loading and unloading a lot of freezing pans by suitably selecting the extended length of the connecting rods 5. When the rods 2 are retracted into the hydraulic cylinders 2 in full stroke, the connecting rods 5 are idled, the freezing pans are intimately contacted between the freezing plates 1 in the sandwiched state on the freezing surfaces of the freezing plates 1 disposed above and below the freezing pans, thereby accelerating the freezing of the fishes and shellfishes laid on the freezing pans.
In such a conventional freezing apparatus, the works of loading or unloading the freezing pans in the accommodation space for the freezing pans formed between the adjacent freezing plates are carried out in the state as shown in FIG. 2. In this state, the lowermost freezing plate is disposed at the lower position which makes contact with the foundation of the freezing apparatus, while the uppermost freezing plate is disposed in height of the degree at which a worker can handle the freezing pans in standing in the vicinity, and the heights of the respective freezing plates of the stages are different when the worker loads and unloads the freezing pans on and from the plates. Thus, when the worker loads or unloads the freezing pans on or from the position higher or lower than the waist of the worker, he should bend and straighten the body. When the worker loads or unloads the freezing pans on or from the freezing plate lower than the waist, he readily suffers from a pain in the waist due to the bending and straightening of his waist. Further, since the loading and unloading room (i.e., freezing room) surrounded by the contact freezer is normally maintained at low temperature lower than 0.degree. C. to -10.degree. C. in high moisture, it is further severe in environment for the worker who loads and unloads the freezing pans, thereby causing the worker to decrease the working efficiency.